friedrichs



g 16, 1932- Q w. FRIEDRICHS 1,871,506

MAIL STAMPING MACHINE AND THE LIKE Filed Sept. 11, 1929 2 sheetssheet l Aug. 16, 1932. w. FRIEDRICHS 1,371,595

MAIL STAMPING MACHINE AND THE LIKE I Filed Sept. 11, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Aug. 16, 1932 l v {UNITED STATES PATENT! oFFICE WILHELM FRIEDRICHS,' OF BEINIGKENDORF-OST, NEAR BERLIN, GERMANY MAIL STAMPING MACHINE AND, THE LIKE I Application filed September 11,1929, Serial No. 391,930, and in G ermany September 13,1928.

This invention refers broadly to cash-paid My invention willbe more particularly demail stamping machines and the like and it scribed by i reference to the accompanying is intended to increase the reliability and drawings showing by way of exemplificafacilitate the manipulation of such machines tion an embodiment of the'principles of the and to generally improve and simplify the invention in Figure 1 in side elevation, showconstruction thereof. More particularly the 'ing particularly the releasing device; Figure invention refers to a mail stamping machine 2is a front view of the same. Figure 3 is a with coupling or releasing means controlled front view of the coupling in the disengaged by the piece of mail to be operated upon. By position." Figure lis a section onthe line v 0 means of such coupling means the stamping 'A.B' of Figure 5, showing the coupling or printing roller is coupled with the driving means in the position of engagement, and means upon the insertion of the piece of mail F1gure'5 is a top plan view of the coupling into the machine. Now my invention is dismeans. 7 V tinguished over the previous art by the fact The other parts of the stamping and print- I l 15 that the operation of the coupling means for ing machine, that is to say, the adding de- '06 the stamping or printing roller is efiected by vice used in connectiontherewith and the the bending of an elbow or toggle lever locking means actuated by the adding dewhich is connected with a pawl which actu vice, and the adjustingmeans for the type ates the coupling means. This bell-crank wheels usually disposed on'the stamping or v or elbow lever is spring-actuated in such a printing roller have not'been shown in the manner that after said lever has been slightdrawings for the sake of clearness of illusly bent by the action of a feeleror finger optration, as they do not form part of the erated upon by themail matter or the like, invention. 1 the action of the spring willcomplete the In'the drawings :1 and 2 are the feeding bending or tilting movement of this lever, rollers between which thearticle to be oper The toggle or elbow lever is restored-to its ated upon is introduced.- These rollers are inoperative position afterthe lapse of a pe provided with grooves 3 adapted for the enriod corresponding approximately to the pas gagement of feeler levers or finger s 4 which sage of a piece of mail matter of ordinary are pivotally mountedin the frame 6 of the 30 length and by means of a member which is machine bymeans of the stud 5. By means firmly coupled with the printing or stampof this stud 5 the feelerlever 4 is rigidly coning roller. This particular arrangement of nected to the'lever 7 so that it will follow the important parts of the machine presents the oscillating movements of the fe'elerl lethe advantage of a particularly simple convers. At the extremity of the lever 7 a roller struction and of a readily responding r'e- 8 is rotatably arranged which operates the 5 lease combined with very sensitive and arm 9 of the two-armed lever 11 which is prompt operation, so that the article oper f rockingly disposed upon the bolt or stud 10. ated upon is not unduly strained or attacked. I The other arm 12 of this two-armed lever is The parts which are in operative engageprovided with a roller 13 and is adapted to ment with the tilting, elbow or bell-crank engage below the end of the lever 14 which lever are preferably returned to their inis rockingly' mounted in the frame 6 of the operative position substantially by the acmachine on the .stud '15. The downward tion of gravity, their own weight being acmovement of the lever 14; is limited by the cordingly operative in effecting the final adjustable stop 16 which becomes operativecoupling of the parts. This arrangement ly engaged with a lever arm 17 rigidly con- 3 produces the advantage that unintentional. nected to the lever 14. Upon a shoulder or disengagement. and release of the parts, projection. 18 0f the lever arm 17 the pawl otherwise liable to occur as a result of the 20 is pivoted at 19. The book 21 of the pawl shocks .and vibration incident uponthe mail 20 embraces the middle joint of a'tilting or i service will be avoided. toggle'lever 22, 23." In the position shown in the drawings this lever 22, 23 rests against the adjustable stop under the action of a the machine by means otherwise Well known in the art andnot forming part of this invention. On this disc'30 a stud 31 isarranged which cooperates with a projection or arm 32'ofthe pawl 20 which embraces the middle;joint of; the toggle orelbow lever 22, 23, andjtherebyafi'ects-the same in the manner hereinafter described, To this projection 32 o-f the pawl 20a spring 33: is connected the other endof which is connected to the lever 18 which isintegral withthezmembersll and 17 and constitutes the; mounting means for the pawl 20', 21, with its eXte'nsi-on32. This spring533-pul1s the arm 32-aga1nst a stud 34 secured to the lever 18. v v

The portion 22 of the toggle or elbowlever 22, 23 carries a shoulder which cooperates; with the stud 37.: rigidly secured to the disc 36.. The manner-of operation-of these; parts and the results thereby produced will be more fully" described hereinafter. The .disc 36 is firmly coupled-to the-stamping or printing 'rollerf38, so that this disc 36; rotates only provided the stamping .rolleris coupledto. the operating gear: of. themachine. 1 .The stud :or-bolt 39. which constitutes the second exterior joint of, the toggle'lever 22,

' 23 carries an eccentric discor a cam 4.0 which is rotatably mounted-in the frame of-themachine and maybe locked in position bysuitable means. .By turning this cam. 10 the lower end of said toggle lever may be later: ally displaced so. that by this turning movement'theposition of the leveri22, 23 with relation to the pawl" 20 can be adjusted; By the operation Of'thlS cam the lever will be so adjusted that in the terminal position shown in the drawings of the joint'24 of the toggle lever or the like 22,23 a slight pull exerted uponthe said jointtowards'f the-left of theillustration on the drawing will produce the folding up of the said toggle level. or the like by the action of the spring-26. As aresult of the friction aifecting the joints of the, said toggle lever this folding action will occur, as soon as the toggle lever inits termi- The. adjustable stop 25 serves for the purpose of absorbing the momentum ofthe said tog-v gle lever at the proper time,} when. it is restored to its terminal the drawings.

The mode of operation of the device is substantially as follows :Upon the introduction of an article to be stamped or printed position represented in the like between the revolving feeding rollers land 2 the said article will depress the feeler levers 1, so that the lever arm 7 connected thereto will rock the two-armed lever 11 in the anticlockwise.- direction. In consequence thereof the arm 12 of this two-armed lever rocks the lever 14 and accordingly also the arm 18 which is rigidly connected thereto in "the clockwise'direction, so that the pawl 20 which ispivotedto the leverarm 18 is drawn towards the left-hand side of. the drawings. In its movement the pawl will move the middle joint 24 of the toggle or folding lever 22, 23; After an only very slight movement towards the left of this middle joint of the lever thespring 26 produces a quick folding up of; the parts of thistoggle lever 22, 23 and upon, for instance a piece of mail matter or consequently the rapid rocking of the pawl or arm 29 of thev lever 28, 29 inthe clockwise direction. This arm will therefore release the disc 30 and therebyproduces the coupling of the stamping roller 38 or the like with the operatingv gear of theamachine. The disc 30 rotatestogetherwith the stamping roller 38. After the said stamping roller 38 and the disc 30 have almost finished their rotation the stud 31 secured to the disc 30 strikes against the extension 32 of the pawl 20, and thereby causes the .arm32 and the pawl 20 'tobe rocked in the anticlockwise direction,

providedv however that at this moment the end' portion of the article operated upon is still retained between the feeding rollers 1 and 2, sothat thefeelerlevers 4 are still depressed. and. the arm 32 at this moment is still in the path ofthe stud 31 on the disc 30 asa result of theraising of the lever arm 18. Bymeans .of the rocking of the pawl 20 thehook 2lof this pawl is moved out of the pathofthe link-bolt 24 0f the toggle lever or the like 22, 23, so that the hook does not interferewith the rocking back of the toggle lever-into its terminal position shown in the drawings. This return movement-is effectedby the impingement of the bolt or stud 37 ;of the disc '36 against the projection or shoulder-3,5 of the section 22 ofthe toggle lever 22, 23. .As a result of the rocking back of the said toggle or folding lever 22, 23 the pawl'29 is caused to become again engaged with theldisc 30,soas to also cause the disengagement of the couplingbetween the disc 30 andthe; discv 38 on the one hand and of the '29 hereinbefore referred to in its position of I ct f t1 1 tl t nal positlon has becomeflvery slightly rocked g mg gear 0 1e mac nne on 16 0 her towards the left handside'of the drawings, -v

rest becomes engaged below the lug or proj ection 41 of a steering and controlling member 42 which is rockingly mounted at 43 on the disc 30 upon which a spring actuated pawl 44 is engagingly disposed. As soon as the steering or controlling member 42 ,becomes released by the lever or pawl 28, 29, the said member 42 descends by gravity by being rotated about its pivot 43 and by the action of the pawl spring. This causes the pawl 44 itself to engage the ratchet wheel 46 which is disposed on the driving shaft 45 and becomes exposed for engagement with the pawl by the rotation of the member 42. Now, rotation of the driving shaft 45 produces through the pawl and ratchet connection a clockwise rotation of the disc 30, which by suitable gearing :0, y, 2 operates the record roller either by means of the disc 36 or directly. It is obvious that by'the engagement of the pawl member 29, 28 with .the lug 41 which is thereby raised the operation of the record roller 38 is interrupted.

In the claims, the term locking means and locking lever is used for the member 29. As will be perceived from Figures 35, this covers an uncoupling of the disc 30 which is effected by the driving shaft 45 owing to the fact that the lever 29 is swung out of the position shown in Fig. 4 into the position shown in Fig. 3. The projection of the disc 30 now comes in contact with the lever 29 and thereby eifects a locking or a rotation of the disc 30 and of the stamping roller 38 in driving connection with the said disc over the toothed wheels m, y and 2. In the constructional form shown by way of example, the lever 29 serves as uncoupling and locking member. If the stamping roller is sufliciently braked or the correct normal position of the stamping roller is ensured after a rotation in another manner, for instance, by a pawl falling in a notch, it will also be sufficient if the lever 29 merely effects the uncoupling. Finally, the lever 29 may also lock the disc 30 and in consequence of the resistance then effect the uncoupling by other means. Consequently the term looking should be construed in its broadest sense for the lever 29. Itmay be stated that it serves for stopping or arresting the roller.

It will be understood that the scope of the invention is not limited to the particular exemplification herein shown and described, and that it is susceptible of'modifications and chan es and equivalent parts may be used within the terms of the appended'claims.

I claim 1. In a device of the kind describedin combination, a record bearing roller, a rotatable operating member, operatively engageable with said roller, locking means for said member, link-connected foldable operating means linked to said locking means, an actuating spring acting upon said operating means, feeding means, and levers engageable with the feeding means and with the operating means, and adapted to release the locking meansinbrderto'make active'the recordroller.

' 2. In a device of the kind described in combination, a record-bearing roller, a rotatable operating member, operatively associated with said roller, a locking lever engageable with said member, a foldable spring actuated toggle lever, operating means engageable with the toggle lever rockable mounting means for said operating means, feeding rollers, and'levers engageable with the feeding rollers and with the mounting means, and adapted to release the locking lever and the toggle lever and actuate the record bearing roller upon a slight initial movement of said toggle lever, and means to restore the locking member to its operative position.

3. In a device of the kinddescribed in combination, a record roller, an operating disc operatively connected to said roller, a locking lever engageable with the disc, a spring actuated foldable toggle lever linked to the locking lever, a spring actuated pawl engaging the toggle'lever, a rockable mounting lever for said pawl, feeding rollers, feelers engaging the feeding rollers, and levers intermediate the feelers and the mounting lever, an extension on said pawl, andmeans engaging said extension and adapted to withhold the pawl from engagement with the toggle lever until the return of the feelers to their position of rest. I I

4. Ina device of the kind described in combination, a record roller, feeding rollers for the insertion of articles to be recorded and stamped, a rotatable disc operatingly engaging the record roller, a spring actuated foldable toggle-lever, locking means linked to said toggle-lever and engageable with the disc, a spring-actuated pawl engaging the toggle lever and adapted to swing the togglelever in one direction, a rockable mounting lever for said pawl, spacedly and rigidly connected feelers engaging the feeding r0llers, operating levers engaged by the feelers and means in operative connection with said record roller and engageable with the toggle-lever and adapted to swing it in the opposite direction.

5. In a device of the kind described in combination, a record roller, a spring actuated foldable toggle lever, pivoting means for said toggle lever, and substantially camshaped setting means on said pivoting means for adjusting the relative initial position of said toggle lever, actuating means for said record roller, locking means for said actuating means and linked to the toggle lever, and operating means for said toggle lever, feeding rollers, feelers engaging the feeding-rollers and lever-connection of the feelers with the toggle lever operating means.

"6. In a device of the kind described in 'eombination; a record roller, a spring actnated foldable toggle lever,- pivoting means for saidtoggle lever, and substantially camshaped setting means on said pivoting means for adjusting the relativewinitial position of said toggle lever, actuating means for said record roller, and locking means for said actuating means, said locking means linked to the toggle lever, and operating means for said toggle lever, feeding rollers, feelers engaging the feeding rollers, and article-actuated leverconnection of the feelers with thetoggle lever operating means.

e In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

WVILHELM FRIEDRICHS. 

